LUCO concert and farewell to Christophe - Friday June 14th, 7:30pm
Hello again!
It's time for the final Lake Union Civic Orchestra concert of the 2018-2019 orchestra season, and it's also a special one. Our music director, Christophe Chagnard, has decided to go out on a high note and move on, at the end of his 20th year with us. It's his opinion that 20 years with any arts organization is enough years, and that someone else should have a turn at the helm. I have a lot of respect for that kind of thinking, because it belies an attitude of wanting to experiment and try something new.
So this concert is his last one with us, for now, and we'll get to say hello to our new music director, Nik Caoile, who we're very excited to start working with. It's a special and bittersweet time for everyone!
Here's what we're playing, although rest assured that we have a few tricks up our sleeve, and this is definitely not a comprehensive list of everything you'll see and hear:
Nicolai: Overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor - conducted by Nik Caoile! This is a classic example of a fun operatic overture, in the vein of Rossini. It's full of Bugs Bunny moments. We're having a good time working with Nik already, and this is a really fun way to start.
Jones: Cello Concerto - with Julian Schwarz on cello and conducted by Christophe. I cannot overstate how much all of LUCO loves playing with Julian. He is a musician of the highest caliber, a really nice guy, and we've known him since he was a little kid. This concerto has a recurring theme that is incredibly awkward to play. Julian makes it look easy and sound fluid, of course.
If you liked watching VH1's Behind the Music back in the day, you might like this part of a TV show that explains the origins of this piece- it was written as a farewell to Gerard Schwarz, Julian's dad, when he left the Seattle Symphony. You can also watch Julian play the whole thing in this video.
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 - conducted by Christophe. I love Shostakovich so much, and this is an absolute beast of a symphony. It was written shortly after Stalin died, and a while after Shostakovich had narrowly escaped being sent off to Siberia- Stalin alternated between praising Shostakovich as a fine Soviet composer, and wanting to throw him in a gulag. At one point, apparently "he waited for his arrest at night out on the landing by the lift, so that at least his family wouldn't be disturbed." The themes are grim, sarcastic, heartbreaking, and then glimmers of hope appear. You hear people get beaten down, afraid and paranoid, and then build themselves back up again.
The second movement is all about the rise of Stalin, and there are frantic passages that sound like they are repeating themselves, but each phrase is slightly different, as if to throw you off guard, sap your energy, and suck up your time. It's a familiar feeling, if you've been reading the news. It's also about 4 minutes, long, so it's basically a punk song.
The third movement is pure paranoia. It is the music of someone who knows their living room has been bugged, and that their downstairs neighbors are waiting to denounce them if their footfalls are too heavy, or whatever it was that you did to annoy your neighbor in the USSR in the 1950s.
Shostakovich signs his work sometimes, and you can hear a particularly huge DSCH in this symphony, coming up out of a frantic whirlwind in the fourth movement. He seems to be saying "I survived all that, and here I am".
What a work to end 20 years on! Christophe has promised us that he isn't trying to send us any kind of message with that one.
Plus, there are a few things that I'm not allowed to tell you about.
Come on out to First Free Methodist on Friday the 14th at 7:30. You can get your tickets in advance here if you want, or buy them at the door. And as always, come say hi beforehand or at intermission!
It's time for the final Lake Union Civic Orchestra concert of the 2018-2019 orchestra season, and it's also a special one. Our music director, Christophe Chagnard, has decided to go out on a high note and move on, at the end of his 20th year with us. It's his opinion that 20 years with any arts organization is enough years, and that someone else should have a turn at the helm. I have a lot of respect for that kind of thinking, because it belies an attitude of wanting to experiment and try something new.
So this concert is his last one with us, for now, and we'll get to say hello to our new music director, Nik Caoile, who we're very excited to start working with. It's a special and bittersweet time for everyone!
Here's what we're playing, although rest assured that we have a few tricks up our sleeve, and this is definitely not a comprehensive list of everything you'll see and hear:
Nicolai: Overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor - conducted by Nik Caoile! This is a classic example of a fun operatic overture, in the vein of Rossini. It's full of Bugs Bunny moments. We're having a good time working with Nik already, and this is a really fun way to start.
Jones: Cello Concerto - with Julian Schwarz on cello and conducted by Christophe. I cannot overstate how much all of LUCO loves playing with Julian. He is a musician of the highest caliber, a really nice guy, and we've known him since he was a little kid. This concerto has a recurring theme that is incredibly awkward to play. Julian makes it look easy and sound fluid, of course.
If you liked watching VH1's Behind the Music back in the day, you might like this part of a TV show that explains the origins of this piece- it was written as a farewell to Gerard Schwarz, Julian's dad, when he left the Seattle Symphony. You can also watch Julian play the whole thing in this video.
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 - conducted by Christophe. I love Shostakovich so much, and this is an absolute beast of a symphony. It was written shortly after Stalin died, and a while after Shostakovich had narrowly escaped being sent off to Siberia- Stalin alternated between praising Shostakovich as a fine Soviet composer, and wanting to throw him in a gulag. At one point, apparently "he waited for his arrest at night out on the landing by the lift, so that at least his family wouldn't be disturbed." The themes are grim, sarcastic, heartbreaking, and then glimmers of hope appear. You hear people get beaten down, afraid and paranoid, and then build themselves back up again.
The second movement is all about the rise of Stalin, and there are frantic passages that sound like they are repeating themselves, but each phrase is slightly different, as if to throw you off guard, sap your energy, and suck up your time. It's a familiar feeling, if you've been reading the news. It's also about 4 minutes, long, so it's basically a punk song.
The third movement is pure paranoia. It is the music of someone who knows their living room has been bugged, and that their downstairs neighbors are waiting to denounce them if their footfalls are too heavy, or whatever it was that you did to annoy your neighbor in the USSR in the 1950s.
Shostakovich signs his work sometimes, and you can hear a particularly huge DSCH in this symphony, coming up out of a frantic whirlwind in the fourth movement. He seems to be saying "I survived all that, and here I am".
What a work to end 20 years on! Christophe has promised us that he isn't trying to send us any kind of message with that one.
Plus, there are a few things that I'm not allowed to tell you about.
Come on out to First Free Methodist on Friday the 14th at 7:30. You can get your tickets in advance here if you want, or buy them at the door. And as always, come say hi beforehand or at intermission!
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